Moving figure toy



Dec. 18, 1951 I M. ZANG 2,579,246

MOVING FIGURE TOY k Filed Nov. 21, 1949 Patented Dec. 18, 1951 UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE MOVING FIGURE TOY Myer Zang, London, England Application November 21, 1949, Serial No. 128,507 In Great Britain December 6, 1948 2 Claims.

This invention relates to moving figure toys.

One object of the invention is to provide an improved toy, and further objects appear from the following description and claims.

According to the invention a moving figure toy is provided with a figure having at least one loosely-jointed member and at least one member connected directly or indirectly to a shaft which can be rotated or oscillated automatically or by actuating a manually-operable element and so cause the figure to perform antics. Preferably the figure has an arm which is secured to the shaft and pivotally connected to the body of the figure, the other limbs being loosely jointed to the body of the figure by strings or the like. In a convenient construction the shaft is rotated by means of a string or like flexible filament passing round the shaft and having one end connected to an automatically or manually-operable element and the other end connected to resilient tensioning means, for example a tensioned rubber band. The automatically or manually-operable element may conveniently be slidable, and it may be somewhat like a plunger arranged so that only one end of it is accessible. It is advantageous to arrange the toy so that skilful or lucky operation may cause the figure to perform some feat, for example to lift an object. In an advantageous construction the figure has a loosely swinging arm with a hook or other engagement means capable of engaging a hook or other engagement means on an object so that the figure may be caused to lift the object. Use of the toy is facilitated if the object is provided with means, for example a loaded string, whereby it is maintained in its initial position until engaged by the figure and is automatically returned to its initial position when released from the figure. The above-mentioned features and further features of the invention are to be perceived by studying the following description of one toy according to the invention and the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings a toy according to the invention is illustrated by way of example, Figure 1 being a perspective view of the toy,

Figure 2 a sectional elevation of some parts to a larger scale,

Figure 3 a sectional elevation in a plane perpendic-ular to that of Figure 2, and

Figure 4 a sectional elevation of a further detail.

Referring to the said drawings, the toy comprises a hollow base In which is closed at the bottom by a flanged closure member N. Standing near the middle of the base is a representation of a lamp post comprising a hollow lower part l2 and an upper part |3. Near the top of the hollow part I2 is a horizontal shaft l4 which is mounted in slots IS in the part I2. One end of the shaft l4 projects from the part l2 and has secured to it one arm I6 of a figure. The arm I6 is pivotally connected by a pivot pin I'I to the body l8 of the figure, the other arm l9 and the legs 20 of the figure being loosely jointed to the body I8 by strings or other flexible filaments. In the hand of the arm I9 is secured a bent wire 2| representing a walking stick. Adjacent to the lamp post is arranged a vertically slidable manually-operable element 22 which represents in its upper part projecting above the base II] a dustbin or the like. The lower part of the element 22 is guided in a substantially tubular guide 23 which is secured to the base II] and is provided with a slot 24. A projecting pin 25 is secured in the element 22 and extends through the slot 24 and has a string 28 secured near its end. The string 26 extends up inside the part l2, passes around the shaft I4, and then extends down inside the part l2 and is secured to a tensioned rubber band 21. Two hooks 28 are accommodated in slots 29 in the base l0 to provide anchorages for the rubber band 21 as shown in Figure-3. In front of the figure is arranged a representation of a wine bottle 3|). As may be seen in Figure 4, a thread 3| extends through a hole 32 in the base l0 and into a recess in the bottle 3|] where it is anchored to a bent wire 34. The thread 3| carries a weight 33, and the thread is thereby loaded so that it maintains the bottle 30 in position. Two hooks 35 are provided on the bottle 3|! so that the figure may be caused to engage the wire 2| in one of the hooks 35 and thereby lift the bottle 30. When the hooks 35 are disengaged from the wire 2| the thread 3| automatically returns the bottle 30 to its initial position.

By manually pushing down the element 22 in opposition to the action of the tensioned rubber band 21 the shaft I4 is caused to rotate by the string 26 so that the figure performs amusing antics, and skilf-ul or lucky operation of the element 22 may cause the wire 2| to engage one of the hooks 35 so that the figure lifts the bottle 30.

Various modifications may be introduced without departing from the invention, for example the parts of the toy which are visible may be designed to represent any desired objects, real or fantastic or imaginary. Two or more figures may be provided, one shaft-may actuate two figures, and there may be more than one automatically or manually-operable element. A rack and pinion or other suitable means may be employed instead of a string or the like for rotating the shaft, and the return of the automatically or manuallyoperable element to its initial position may be frictionally retardedso that the antics of the figure are correspondingly retarded and a very droll slow-motion efiect is produced. This friction may be induced, for example, by introducing a little sticky substance between the element 22 and its guide. Electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic or mechanical means, for example clockwork; may be employed to rotate or oscillate the-shaft;

I claim: 1. In a moving figure toy the combination comprising a hollow base, a hollow support mounted on and extending upwardly from said base, a shaft rotatably mounted in said support and having one end projecting from said support, a jointed figure having a member secured to the projecting end of the said' shaft, said member being pivotally connected to the body'of said figure and said figure" comprising additional members loosely jointed to said body, engagement means on at-least one loosely jointed member of said figure, a sli'dable manually-operable control element partly projecting from said hollow base, a flexible driving filament having one end operatively connected to said control element, said filament passing up inside said hollow support and around said shaft and down insidesaid support, resilient tensioning' means mounted within said base applying tension to the second end of said driving filament, a movable object capable of standing on said base, engagement means on said movable object engageable by said engagement means on said figure, a flexible tension member having one end secured to 4 said movable object, said tension member passing through an aperture in the top of said base. and means for tensioning said tension member and automatically returning said movable object to its position on said base.

2. A moving figure toy comprising a hollow base, a hollow support mounted on said base, a shaft rotatably mounted in said support, at least one partly loosely-jointed figure each of which has one pivotally-attached member operatively connected to said shaft, a manually-operable slidable element partly projecting from said base, resilient means tending to resist displacement of said element from its initial position and to return said element to its initial position, transmission means connected to said resilient means and operatively connecting said shaft to said element and rotating said shaft, engagement means on at least one loosely-jointed swinging member of at least one: figure, at least one movable object engageable and displaceable by said engagement meansyand': means for automatically returningisaid movable: object to: its normalposition.

MYER ZANG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 140,649 Schwennesen July 8, 1878 2,199,181 Collins Apr. 30, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 16,735 France Jan. 30, 1913 

